In an arti­cle enti­tled ​“Solitary Men” in The Texas Observer, Dave Mann describes the con­di­tions for inmates on Texas​’s death row. Inmates in the Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas, spend almost their entire time alone in a 60-square-foot cell. He writes, ​“The cells have a small win­dow at one end. The steel door has a nar­row win­dow and, at the bot­tom, a slit through which guards slide trays of food.…Little pen­e­trates these cement box­es except sound. Prison is a loud place, and sound can cause the most tor­ment. The con­stant yelling and taunt­ing and clang­ing doors — what one inmate describes as ​‘prison ruckus’ — nev­er ceas­es. Occasionally there are dull thuds of beat­ings and the screams of near­by pris­on­ers descend­ing into mad­ness.” When they do get out for exer­cise for a short time 5 days a week, they can only exer­cise alone in adja­cent cages. Some inmates are kept this way for as long as 30 years, though the aver­age stay is clos­er to 10 before an exe­cu­tion occurs. Contact vis­its and tele­vi­sions are nev­er allowed in what Mann describes as ​“per­haps the harsh­est death row con­di­tions in the coun­try.” The arti­cle cites a num­ber of stud­ies show­ing that inmates endur­ing such soli­tary con­fine­ment con­di­tions often slip into severe men­tal ill­ness. (pho­to c. Ken Light).

(D. Mann, ​“Solitary Men,” The Texas Observer, Nov. 10, 2010). See also Death Row and Time on Death Row.

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